NetApp SnapMirror vs NetApp Snapshot comparison

NetApp SnapMirror and NetApp Snapshot are both solutions in the Data Replication category. NetApp SnapMirror is ranked #2 with an average rating of 9.1, while NetApp Snapshot is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.0. NetApp SnapMirror holds a 19.7% mindshare in DR, compared to NetApp Snapshot’s 23.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of NetApp SnapMirror users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp Snapshot users who would recommend it.

NetApp SnapMirror

Read 25 NetApp SnapMirror reviews

1,737 Views
1,251 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NetApp Snapshot

Read 22 NetApp Snapshot reviews

1,756 Views
1,423 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NetApp SnapMirror

NetApp Snapshot

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

NetApp SnapMirror and NetApp Snapshot compete in the data management category. SnapMirror seems to have an edge due to its pricing and support, while Snapshot is favored for its feature set.

Features: SnapMirror is recognized for its efficient data replication, disaster recovery capabilities, and reliable long-distance data transfer. Snapshot is valued for its user-friendly interface, near-instantaneous backup and recovery, and minimal storage overhead, allowing quick restoration without affecting performance.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest SnapMirror could benefit from more intuitive configuration, improved documentation, and easier initial setup. Snapshot might enhance scalability for large enterprise environments, offer advanced integration with third-party solutions, and extend compatibility features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SnapMirror deployment is complex but highly rated for customer service responsiveness. Snapshot deployment is straightforward and quick, with efficient customer support, making it easier to implement and with fewer challenges.

Pricing and ROI: SnapMirror is praised for cost-effectiveness and satisfactory ROI in large-scale disaster recovery. Snapshot, despite higher initial costs, offers long-term value through minimal maintenance, reduced downtime, and competitive ROI, justifying its price due to technical advantages in data protection.

To learn more, read our detailed NetApp SnapMirror vs. NetApp Snapshot Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapMirror vs. NetApp Snapshot

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

NetApp SnapMirror

Ranking in Data Replication

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetApp Snapshot

Ranking in Data Replication

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Data Replication category, the mindshare of NetApp SnapMirror is 19.7%, up from 19.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Snapshot is 23.7%, up from 21.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Replication

Featured Reviews

Christopher Cagayan

IT Server and Storage Engineer at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

Protects our data during any emergency or disaster

If they can make the application free like other vendors or include it in all the packages, it would be great. Once we bought a license for NetApp AFF A250, but the company didn’t include SnapMirror, which lead to issues while transferring data. We had to reach out to the vendor again which lead to logistical issues. It was quite frustrating as we had already incorporated the product cost into the budget, and it is quite difficult to include it again. That was a bad experience.

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Mir Gulzar Ahmed

IT Manager at Synergy Computers

Offers point-in-time copy functionality, restore process is very fast, and the resources are easy to configure

Snapshot doesn't work well when you're already backing up data with another software. For example, if a customer has backup software in their environment and wants to use Snapshot alongside it, that won't work effectively. It will bubble up back-end storage space. Also, if a customer frequently deletes data, Snapshot will take up a lot of space. For example, if they write one terabyte of data and delete it at the end of the day, and then rewrite it the next day, scheduling a snapshot in that scenario will cause it to take up a lot of space. So, in scenarios where you need data protection, you have to use NetApp Snapshot exclusively and not use any other product for that. Secondly, where there's a lot of data deletion or overwriting, NetApp's Snapshot will not be an effective way to provide backup and recovery. I've told a lot of my customers this because I've seen the problems firsthand. They call me saying their storage is full, and I find that they are deleting and then copying the data repeatedly. I ask them why they're doing it, and they say it's their daily work to archive, delete, and copy. So I have to disable the Snapshot and tell them that if they're already copying the data with other tools and deleting it, then the data isn't important, and they don't need a snapshot or backup of it. For additional features: NetApp is already a visionary company. They analyze their deployed products and change them according to customer requirements. To me, it's not about technical improvement, but the price factor is important for selling the product. So, the price factor is challenging. Snapshot is a ten out of ten. If the whole product needs improvement, I think one feature they could add is an alarm or notification in the NetApp management console if you're frequently deleting data or using a volume for backups. The alarm would indicate that you don't need to enable Snapshot in that case. That kind of alarm, notification, or indication could be added. If a customer is deleting data very frequently, there should be a mechanism to notify the administrator. A message should be triggered if the customer has enabled Snapshot, advising them to disable it, as it will use unnecessary storage. This would be a helpful feature. Otherwise, administrators or deployers should know to discuss this with the customer during deployment. They should advise the customer not to enable Snapshot on volumes where they frequently delete and copy or archive data.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"With SnapMirror, the solution is the feature itself that is most valuable. It just replicates the data. It's very difficult to speak about, in the sense that it's similar to the features of a wheel. It is round and it's a part of an automobile."

"Data protection is a valuable feature."

"NetApp SnapMirror's ease of use and reliability are valuable features."

"The performance and stability are valuable features. It seems to fulfill all the requirements."

"They have a very effective dashboard and good reports."

"Overall, the product is very good. It's an easy to use tool."

"The most valuable feature is the data replication tool. There is also a lot of ability for data migration."

"The most valuable feature is the snap shot."

More NetApp SnapMirror pros

"Compared to the traditional way we did backups, with Snapshot it takes us less time. It has improved my organization by saving us time."

"It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"SnapMirror and Snapshot are both very reliable products."

"The solution is fast and it doesn't use any disc space at all. You can also take as many snapshots as you like. These are the solution's most valuable features."

"The most valuable features of NetApp Snapshot are the integration with other vendors and customization."

"You never have to worry about maintaining millions of files stored across several thousands of virtual machines."

"The initial setup was straightforward."

"It centralizes your data."

More NetApp Snapshot pros

Cons

"At the moment, we are not using the synchronous mirror, but we can implement the synchronous mirror. The only thing is that it needs another license. This is the same issue we have with business continuity. It needs another license to be implemented. You need too many separate licenses for the features. They should add some of the aspects of the premium bundle into the basic bundle. Sometimes our customers choose other replication services because of the initial cost of the licenses."

"In the next release, I would like to see Data reduction included and WAN optimization."

"The solution's dashboard and reporting could be improved."

"The price could be cheaper."

"The GUI can be improved to perform complex tasks"

"They could make continued enhancements in integration with diverse platforms for the product."

"If they can make the application free like other vendors or include it in all the packages, it would be great."

"There is probably some limitations when it comes to the scalability of the solution."

More NetApp SnapMirror cons

"Although support is good, the global support is lacking depending on location."

"Not a perfect ten because there is one point off to give it room for improvement."

"The solution should have a snapshot mode using AI to decide when to create the snapshot, depending on the workload."

"The price could be a bit lower."

"I would like to see cloud features added to the next release of this solution."

"The price could be improved a little bit."

"The next release should include developments on the step center for purpose or bandwidth."

"The dashboards are in need of improvement."

More NetApp Snapshot cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is low compared to different vendors."

"The product price is reasonable."

"The pricing can be improved."

"It's part of the NetApp Firewall, so it's free."

"It's a highly cost-effective solution"

"The pricing could be improved."

"The solution has monthly and yearly licensing options."

"SnapMirror is extremely expensive. We had a hard time adjusting to our budget. If rated on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most expensive, I would definitely rate it ten out of ten."

"It's not too expensive."

"Snapshot is free and comes with the NetApp storage software. It's purely free of cost."

"NetApp Snapshot is expensive since you need to buy an additional premium license for it which is an extra cost over the payments made for NetApp...The license works during the entire life cycle of NetApp Snapshot."

"The price of this solution is fair."

"If there is a way to save more on the number of snapshots, it should be included in the next release."

"The price of the solution is reasonable but could improve. However, if you are in a country that has a poor currency then the price will be considered expensive."

"As far as their licensing costs, the licensing is paid on a yearly basis. The organization pays for the licensing based on the software and the capacity that they choose."

"The price of NetApp Snapshot depends on the use case. They charge by how much data you need, the capability, and for snap licenses."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

26%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetApp SnapMirror?

The performance and stability are valuable features. It seems to fulfill all the requirements.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp SnapMirror?

The product price is reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp SnapMirror?

They could make continued enhancements in integration with diverse platforms for the product.

See all answers

What method of data replication does NetApp Snapshot use?

Here's a breakdown of how the data replication by NetApp Snapshot works: it's through the snapshot replication method. What does that mean? Well, in simple words, the software creates copies of dat...

See all answers

What is the storage scale of NetApp Snapshot?

Last time I checked, the NetApp Snapshot data replication software could go up to 255 snapshot copies. I'm not sure how familiar you are with similar software, but that's a pretty good number. It g...

See all answers

Will NetApp Snapshot recover data in an emergency?

Well yes, the snapshots that NetApp Snapshot creates are your backup. But then there's also their feature for advanced backup. This allows you to copy backups to offline locations and also make arc...

See all answers

Comparisons

Hitachi TrueCopy vs NetApp SnapMirror

Compared 4% of the time

Dell AppSync vs NetApp SnapMirror

Compared 3% of the time

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Hitachi Thin Image Advanced vs NetApp Snapshot

Compared 23% of the time

Dell AppSync vs NetApp Snapshot

Compared 7% of the time

More NetApp Snapshot Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapMirror

November 2024

Download NetApp SnapMirror product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp Snapshot

November 2024

Download NetApp Snapshot product report

Also Known As

SnapMirror

No data available

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NetApp

Overview

NetApp SnapMirror technology provides fast, efficient data replication and disaster recovery (DR) for your critical data. Use a single solution across all NetApp storage arrays and protocols. SnapMirror technology works with any application, in both virtual and traditional environments, and in multiple configurations, including hybrid cloud.

NetApp Snapshot is a data replication software that works through snapshot copies, crucial for the recovery of data. These copies are used as safe points for rollback before upgrades or patches. NetApp Snapshot provides prompt data replication which is also highly space-efficient, and provides users with the full management and control of their data and its copies. Through the various solutions the Snapshot technology has introduced, companies receive enhanced stability, functionality, and performance, as well as storage efficiency.

NetApp Snapshot uses two types of snapshot technologies to handle data replication: Copy on Write (COW) and Redirect on Write (ROW). The COW technologies make a copy of the original information and then only after the replication process is completed does the system overwrite the modified data into the original blocks. In contrast, ROW redirects the snapshots to new storage blocks, updating pointers to those blocks, which always point to the original location. When NetApp Snapshot combines the two technologies, it allows customers to save storage efficiency by way of deduplication and compression.

NetApp Snapshot Features

NetApp Snapshot’s valuable features include:

Data replication stability: Every NetApp Snapshot copy is an immutable, static copy, giving organizations the opportunity to create consistent backups from their storage system while applications are running.
Performance impact: The performance of NetApp's systems that store NetApp Snapshot aren’t affected. The actions of creating or deleting a Snapshot copy also don't greatly impact the performance of the systems where they are located. NetApp’s storage can be used for data replication, backup, and archival even if a company is using another storage system.
Storage scale: Another beneficial feature of NetApp is the volume of storage, which supports 255 Snapshot copies. This provides users with the opportunity to perform frequent data replication, thus creating current versions of their data.
File recovery: The above-mentioned features allow for the creation of backup for recovery purposes. They also provide\ the opportunity to copy backups to offline storage as well as to create an archive for them.
Storage utilization: The option for utilization of storage allows NetApp Snapshot users to benefit from storage volumes similar to those of active file systems. The software works through block increment, which limits the interval of time between added blocks of Snapshot copies, thus creating more efficient storage.

NetApp Snapshot Benefits

The benefits of using NetApp Snapshot include:

Ability to create instant data replication while applications run
Up to 255 data replicas available
Various tools for full-package coverage, including SnapManager, SnapProtect, SnapMirror, SnapRestore, and SnapVault

Reviews from Real Users

Gregg N., Manager of Data Center Services at TTi Power Equipment, states that the primary use of NetApp Snapshot by his organization is as a data-protection solution in the cloud and in the data center. He points out that this data duplication software is very user-friendly, extremely stable, and scalable.

Edgar M., Sr. Data Protection Engineer at DataPivot Technologies, uses NetApp Snapshot for its monitoring or clone capabilities, and he agrees that the solution is very stable.

According to George A., CEO at BDPR Technologies Limited, the most valuable features of NetApp Snapshot are the integration with other vendors and customization.

Sample Customers

University at Albany, City of Houston, Yahoo Japan, Washington Employment Security Department, DG Khan Cement Co. Ltd., AmTrust Financial Services, Sheridan College

Mazda

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapMirror vs. NetApp Snapshot

October 2024

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